Humanties, Arts, & SS Electives

<p>How robust is the selection of non-technical elective courses such as Art, Music, Humanities, or Social Sciences like PolSci or Econ? Is it hard to get into the classes you want?</p>

<p>It looks like some electives aren't offered every term or might only offered every other year? I guess this is because of the school's size and some of the limitations of the term system? Do many students take advantage of the Consortium relationship with Clark or Holy Cross? Seems like a great idea, but possibly difficult to manage the practical side of things like transportation and semesters/trimesters vs. WPI's terms.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone have experience with Dual Enrollment programs. S's high school offers classes for college credit through a local university. Many colleges in our are accept this credit, but others do not. I am not sure that WPI will recognize this credit. Do you think the college would talk to him about the transferability of these credits at this point or will this only be reviewed once he commits to the school?</p>

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<p>There are plenty of music offerings and the professors in both the music and English departments at WPI are fantstic. Meanwhile, the social science offerings tend (Economics for example) to be quite anemic. Few students take advantage of the consortium agreements because of differences in academic schedule and the fact that most find WPI’s offerings to be sufficient.</p>

<p>It can be hard to get into certain very popular classes or engineering science classes that are requirements for everybody but otherwise it isn’t too bad. Everybody here who passes their classes and plans well should be able to graduate in four years.</p>

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<p>WPI will likely accept this credit. I know others who got dual-enrollment credit transferred to WPI. Just make sure that there is a one-to-one correspondance between the community college course and the WPI course.</p>

<p>as to credit for courses elsewhere - don’t assume it. Send the course description to them first and they will let you know if WPI will accept the course. My information suggests that some courses they will not and some will only be counted as electives (S’s college physics course which he took from the college while he was in HS <em>was</em> counted but as an <em>elective</em> and NOT as satisfying one of his physics or science requirements) It is always best to ask <em>how</em> they will apply the credit as well as <em>if</em> they will apply the credit.</p>

<p>I think the course descriptions of the dual enrollment courses (which are from an accredited University rather than a community college) correspond well with Spanish 1523 and 1524, so perhaps there is a chance. Looking at how AP credit is handled, I expect that they might count in terms of HUA elective breadth requirements but not toward WPI’s HUA depth requirements (3 courses in one area).</p>

<p>If S ends up at WPI, I’ll post with the outcome.</p>

<p>If they look similar, they may be counted (most certainly you would get elective credit no matter what) But seriously, send the course blurb in from the college course and ask WPI - they will tell you. That is what I did when I wanted to know if S’s physics class (from a 4-yr University)I have heard they are much more lenient about awarding credit for humanities outside of WPI</p>

<p>The reason your S may have had difficulty transferring physics courses is because WPI does not accept non-calculus based physics courses from the CC to WPI (only offering elective credit - which doesn’t satisfy any requirement). However, the 1110-1120 intro Physics sequence and 1111-1121 sequence do not use Calculus very extensively and I know many who found the experience of taking these classes to be repetitive.</p>

<p>I am sure you are correct about that particular physics course, but I still caution the OP to check with the registrar before assuming any particular courses will be accepted as transfer credit for anything other than elective. I have heard this from other sources as well. And in my conversations with advising, they asked to see the course descriptions from the college offering the courses, before saying they would give credit for ANY course. Best to be proactive and check.</p>